The present invention relates to a system and method for saving document images, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for saving document images to a network folder.
Typically, data transfer networks are provided with one or more document generating devices, such as scanners, copiers, etc., for reading an original document and generating a document image file representative of the document read. These devices are usually available to a multitude of users who create image data and save the image data to a network folder for later use and manipulation. According to a typical system, a privileged user, such as a system administrator, provides user access to the network folder by selecting the appropriate settings in a network administrative setup page, thereby enabling users to save the image data to the network folder. Typically, the administrator must also specify access information for the network folder and communicate the access information to any users who want to save an image file to the network folder. The access information may include usual login information such as, for example, a user name and a password. When the user saves the image file to the network folder, the user will be prompted to input the access information to save the file in the folder. When the user later attempts to retrieve the saved image file, the user will be prompted to again input the access information to retrieve to the image file. Such a conventional system places restraints on both the administrator's workload in having to, inter alia, provide user access, and on users' flexibility in selecting network folders as destinations for the image data.
This type of conventional system is disadvantageous for both administrators and users of the document generating device. The administrator's workload is increased by providing user access and communicating the access information to users. Additionally, relative to the users, because all users must use the same access information, any user with the access information can access an image file saved by any other user. This presents a disadvantage in that one user's image files are accessible by a multitude of other users.
It is desirable to have a system and method for saving document images to a network folder with increased security.